Desktop Metal Qualifies 420 Stainless Steel for High-Volume Additive Manufacturing With the Production System Platform - Seite 2

Examples of key applications include:

• Medical/Surgical - Locking Articulation Bar

Robotic surgical systems used in a variety of medical procedures provide surgeons a better range of motion, enhanced visibility, and a level of precision unachievable with manual surgeries. These systems feature highly precise motion systems with many small intricate parts. The Production System offers high-resolution binder jet printing, making it an ideal solution for achieving the fine features required of robotic surgical instruments. For components like locking articulation bars, 420 SS is a desired material for its high hardness and excellent corrosion resistance. Since no tooling is required to produce these parts with binder jetting on the Production System, volume production can begin as soon as the design is complete, saving valuable time and money on large non-recurring costs of tooling design and fabrication.

• Aerospace - Valve Nozzle Adapter

Valve nozzle adapters connect nozzles with fluid systems in aerospace applications, where multiple versions of these adapters are often required to accommodate various nozzle geometries and sizes. Engineers prefer 420 SS for this type of adapter because of its excellent corrosion resistance and high hardness. With capacity for thousands of adapters in a single build, the Production System can support the manufacturing of these components in 420 SS in volumes competitive with conventional manufacturing methods. In addition, with no tooling required, numerous adapter geometries can be printed within a single build, saving lead time and costs associated with changing over tooling in conventional manufacturing processes.

• High-Volume Manufacturing - Twin Screw Extruder Mixing Elements

Twin screw extruder mixing elements are used for mixing, compounding and processing viscous materials. These parts feature complex lobes around the exterior of the spline that must be optimized for the material being extruded, necessitating a unique mixing element for each different material. With conventional manufacturing, each of these elements can be complex to produce, often requiring advanced machining techniques, multiple machining setups, and custom fixturing. Binder jetting with the Production System simplifies the manufacturing process, enabling large volumes of several, unique mixing elements to be printed in each build, reducing the cost and lead time of production compared to machining. 420 SS is an essential material in these applications for its high hardness and corrosion resistance, ensuring the elements have a long lifetime and the hardness required for extruding a wide variety of materials.